NF Review: Malta’s “Coming Home”

Well the longest show in the NF season has just finished and it’s going to be Firelight that will fly the Maltese flag in Copenhagen! So what do we think about it and how well it’ll do at Eurovision? Well keep reading to find out!

So it’s Firelight that will go to Eurovision for Malta…

After the semi-final yesterday, there were 14 songs that were fighting for the title to go to Eurovision, so that meant that we’d be in for a show that lasted what felt like an entire lifetime to find out who would represent Malta. And well, now that we know, it’s fair to say that James and I are pretty pissed. Here’s why: Soon after we posted preview article for the Malta Eurovision Song Contest (MESC) on Thursday, we received a comment from some person under the name “Y”. They commented:

A rumor has it that it’s already decided by the Maltese TV company who the winner will be. Even before the semifinals. And the lucky one is Firelight with Coming Home.

Now that it’s true and the band are indeed going to Eurovision, it makes us wonder if the thing was really rigged. There were such fanwanks as Jessika and Daniel Testa, that were loved on by nearly everyone in Malta (which showed in the public result – thank you Maltese public, you actually voted for your favourites), but then one of the least favourite songs in the entire NF comes out on top thanks to the jury? Don’t think so. The fact that we got that comment a long way off the actual contest saying the whole thing was rigged, and then the apparent song CASUALLY wins the entire thing – coincidence? Highly doubt it.

Right, I think that’s enough confrontation for the minute. Let’s actually review the National Final. But first, listen to the winning song – “Coming Home”:

The song:

Oh god. Right, well where do I even start? The song could be interpreted as a rip off of Gary Barlow’s “Let Me Go“, with lines in the chorus being maybe semi-identical to Gary’s. It’s also a country song, which technically doesn’t work in its favour, as Switzerland are sending something country-ish and the Netherlands will be more than likely sending something in a country-style. The fact that all three of the songs are in the same genre reduce the chance of them standing out from the crowd. God, it’s going to be a tedious first half on the 8th of May.

The show:

Malta has the longest national final in the history of national finals. Lasting 3 hours and 15 minutes, the show would have been at least half as long if the ad breaks weren’t as long. It’s as if every ad break was at least half an hour long; something which I frequently mentioned when I was doing a running commentary on Twitter (as we always do with national finals).

Gaia Cauchi, our *FAVOURITE* person ever, opened up the show with her Britney-but-an-entire-pitch-higher voice singing “The Start” which, as you would know, we absolutely loathe. Gianluca and Ira Losco were the shows hosts, which was nice as it showed that if you go to Eurovision and do well, you’ll get all sorts of work (Seriously, in every ad break, he was advertising something, probably a bank. Ira Losco’s make-up team were also mentioned pretty heavily too).

When it came to the actual competition, there are a few points worth noting:

The opening act, Christabelle, sang her song ‘Lovetricity’ perfectly, but when it came to the staging, it DID look like she was trying to be female embodiment of Eric Saade. Red coat, encased in a cube thing etc, you get the idea.

Chris Grech..oh wow. He drove ‘Oblivion‘ to a car crash! Seriously, he couldn’t sing for his life! For example, in the high note he was supposed to sound fantabulous on, he went off-key and it sounded like a cat being blended..does that ring a bell anyone?

Deborah C gave an absolutely amazing performance, but her similarity to CharityDingle off of Emmerdale probably led people to believe she would end up scamming them out of a car and a lot of money – don’t you hate it when you’re a lookalike?

While I personally liked De Bee’s “Pin The Middle”, James pointed out to me that although the song is all about being happy and such, the chords are all messed up and it sounded like she was demented, singing a track for a horror movie. Wrong move, De Bee!

The amount of interval acts during the show was also incomprehensible. Gianluca and Ira provided for the first few songs, with Gianluca singing Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy” for some apparent reason that I have yet to unravel, while Ira was singing “Me Love You Long Time” which she released last year. This was then followed with what can only be described as scary..some random people jumping around the stage wearing masks of famous politicians and heads of state..the Queen was one of the few that fell victim to the performance. Luckily, Sebalter from Switzerland brought us back to reality with his performance of “Hunter of Stars”, which was quickly succeeded by Emmelie de Forest singing the official 2014 Eurovision theme “Rainmaker”, which is an actual CHOON! Plus it featured shirtless boys so DOUBLE CHOON!

Then, we got to the voting..which you already know about, so let’s just continue on..

At Eurovision:

As I’ve already mentioned above, Malta’s song is very much a country song and when pit against songs like “Hunter of Stars”, it really shows its weak side. The fact that all three of the countries (Malta, the Netherlands and Switzerland) are in the same genre reduces the chance of the song getting noticed in the semi-final. Speaking of the semi-final, Malta’s been drawn into the second semi-final, which means it has a greater chance of qualifying to the final. But judging by the fact Malta’s in the first half of the semi-final, the odds may be a little against them. If they get to the final, my guess is that they won’t do entirely well, probably ending up in the bottom 5, but that’s just our opinion. What’s yours?

Your views:

Have Malta made the right choice, in your opinion?

Ian Mack from the United Kingdom: Well I prefer Coming Home to this generic dance stuff….but that’s just my opinion before everyone starts yelling abuse at me.

Arnold Kosova from Italy: Everything is bad in the winning song for me, it was the worst in my opinion.

Tommy Engström from Sweden: I think Malta had several decent songs this year. The winner is not one of them.

Tom Grant from the United Kingdom: LOL For the first time in many years I LIKE the Maltese song!

So it’s very clear that everyone else, bar a few, don’t really like the Maltese song, but whether that will change over the next few months is anyone’s guess. So what do you think of the Maltese song? Do you like it or are you like most fans and think the song shouldn’t be going to Copenhagen? Feel free to let us know by telling us what you think below!

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9 thoughts on “NF Review: Malta’s “Coming Home””

Please don´t compare the sure-to-be-classic entry of The Common Linnets to this crap from Malta or Switzerland just because it has a `country style`. The Netherlands will send a song in a class of its own, thank you.